Tarek Mitri, former UN envoy to Libya (Oct. 2012-Aug. 2014) published a public testimony in which he gave his analysis of the conflict in Libya. The five-page document published in Siyassat Arabiya (Arab Policies) gave an account of the multifacets of the Libyan conflict and its drivers, the current political and constitutional crisis, role of foreign influences, and finally peace initiatives and their success prospects. In his evaluation of the dialogue initiatives undertaken by Bernardino Leon in Ghedamas and Geneva, we understand that Mitri thinks a long precious time was wasted in not talking to the most influential conflict actors on the ground. Reference is made here to the Leon’s ignoring of the General National Congress and its armed force, Libya Dawn, in control of Tripoli and most of Libya’s territory for months. Mitri also thinks that in addition to those shortcoming’s in Leon’s dialogue talks design, the peace process was also rushed. According to Mitri “the success of the dialogue requires that the dialogue actors represent the real conflict forces, and that they are ready for a political resolution.” Mitri adds “I do not know if those two conditions were met, and most likely they were not. That is why I consider the Ghedamas meeting and Geneva 1 and 2 sessions as preparatory pre-dialogue meetings.” Mitri talks of the responsibility of both the GNC and pro-Hafter camps in the crisis. He explains while the vetting law to ban former regime corrupt and criminal figures from office was understandable but considering expanding it to anyone who served under Qaddafi (1269-2011) as simply irresponsible. On the other hand, he blames the House of Representative (Tubroq) for wasting an opportunity for a negotiated agreement with the GNC in June 2014, because at the time Tobruq thought that “a military victory in [Hafter’s] Drignity Operation was possible.”
Link for more information:
https://bookstore.dohainstitute.org/p-610-13.aspx
